DescriptionTwo episodes of the hunt narrative are brought together in this hanging. At left, two hunters drive their lances into the neck and chest of the unicorn, as a third delivers the coup de grâce from the back. It has been suggested that the doomed unicorn is an allegory for Christ dying on the Cross; the large holly tree (often a symbol of the Passion) rising from behind his head seems to reinforce this association. In the other episode, at right, a lord and a lady receive the body of the unicorn in front of their castle. They are surrounded by their attendants, with more curious onlookers peering through windows of the turret behind them. The dead animal is slung on the back of a horse, his horn already cut off but still entangled in thorny oak branches—probably symbolizing the Crown of Thorns. The rosary in the hand of the lady and the three other women standing behind the lord encourage a deeper reading of the scene, perhaps as a symbolic Deposition by the grieving Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, and the Holy Women.

ProvenanceIn 1680 seven pieces listed in the inventory of Françis VI de La Rochefoucauld as hanging in the great chamber of his residence on the rue de Seine, Paris; In 1728 seven pieces listed in the inventory of François VIII de la Rochefoucauld at the château de Verteuil (Charante), five in the large bedroom in the new building, two in a large low hall near the chapel where furniture was being stored.; Said to have been looted from the château de Verteuil in 1793 and to have been used in the neighborhood to protect potatoes from freeaing and to cover espaliered trees; acquired again by members of the La Rochefoucauld family and installed in a salon in the château de Verteuil in 1856.